LOWER PROVIDENCE — As crews worked to drain the flooded basement of Valley Forge Beef and Ale, the cause the fire that damaged the restaurant over the weekend was still under investigation, Fire Marshal Charles DeFrangesco said Monday.

Firefighters spent four hours Saturday afternoon battling the blaze, which investigators believe started in the basement of the restaurant. The fire drew more than 100 firefighters from around the area to the scene. No one was injured in the fire.

When police and fire officials converged on the South Trooper Road restaurant at 12:27 p.m., they were met with heavy smoke and flames in the first floor of the building.

According to police reports, the basement was filled with heavy smoke when firefighters got to the scene.

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Police said voids and holes in the building’s three-story structure made it difficult to track the path of the blaze.

Fire crews returned Sunday to extract excess water from the basement in preparation for investigators to continue their work, DeFrangesco said.

At the time of the fire, there were 18 customers and five employees in the building. Employees reported hearing an explosion in the basement right before the fire, and felt that the first floor “rocked.”

An employee reportedly encountered thick, black smoke in the stairway to the basement and attempted to put it out single-handedly before calling 911. The fire closed Trooper Road for some part of the afternoon Saturday.

In addition to Lower Providence Fire Company, responding at the scene were fire crews from Collegeville Fire Company, Norriton Fire Company, Berwyn Fire Company, Limerick Fire Company, Skippack Fire Company and Jeffersonville Fire Company. An investigation is ongoing, jointly with local police, Pennsylvania state police and the Montgomery County Detective Bureau.